SEPANG: Tunku Putera Johor, Tunku Abu Bakar Sultan Ibrahim and his teammate Jordan Love redeemed themselves from yesterday’s 10th place finish by securing a podium finish in the Pro-Am category in Race 2 of the GT World Challenge Asia today.
The race, held at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), saw Tunku Abu Bakar and Love, competing for the Triple Eight Johor Motorsports Racing (JMR) team, clock a time of 1 hour 55 seconds after 27 laps to claim third place.
This achievement positioned Triple Eight JMR in fourth place overall out of the 33 teams competing.
Racing with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, the Triple Eight team initially driven by Love managed to maintain fifth place for the first 30 minutes of the race before switching drivers with Tunku Abu Bakar.
With 15 minutes left in the race, Tunku Abu Bakar’s impressive driving performance propelled the team to fourth place in the Pro-Am category.
However, luck was on the side of Triple Eight JMR when the Absolute Racing team driven by Liu Anthony, originally in third place, received a 33-second penalty, dropping them to 12th position.
This development allowed Triple Eight JMR to step onto the podium in third place in the Pro-Am category and fourth overall.
First place was won by Origine Motorsports driven by Lu Wei and Heirich Laurin (1:00:27.782s), with Craft Bamboo Racing, driven by Cao Qi and Morad Daniel, finishing second (1:00:27.929s). The third spot went to Harmoni Racing, driven by Liang Jiatong and Luo Kangluo (1:00:48.730s).
His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim , King of Malaysia, and Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Malaysia, also graced the SIC with their presence to watch their son, Tunku Abu Bakar, compete in this prestigious race.
Commenting on today’s race, Tunku Abu Bakar said he was satisfied with his improved performance compared to yesterday’s race.
“I came out after the pit stop on a cold tyre, so it was hard to chase the other cars. But after a few laps, we caught up, unfortunately we just had traffic.
“But we made huge progress today compared to yesterday, so I think we are on a good trajectory for the rest of the season,“ he said.
Tunku Abu Bakar added that he also aims to finish in the fifth best position at the GT World Challenge Asia at the Chang International Circuit, Thailand this May 10 to 12.
